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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Copyright Act 1994

Remedies for infringement - Presumptions

130: Unjustified proceedings

You could also call this:

"What happens if you take someone to court for no good reason"

Illustration for Copyright Act 1994

You can take someone to court if you think they infringed your copyright. If the court thinks you took someone to court without a good reason, it can say so. The court can also order you to pay damages to the person you took to court. You took someone to court because you thought they infringed your copyright or broke section 226A. The court will not punish you if what the person did was actually against the law. If a lawyer took you to court on behalf of someone else, the lawyer will not get in trouble. The court's decision is final. You must follow the court's rules. The court can make you pay for taking someone to court without a good reason.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM346600.

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129: Presumptions relevant to works subject to Crown copyright, or

"What to assume is true about government-owned books, plays, and songs in court"

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131: Criminal liability for making or dealing with infringing objects, or

"Breaking copyright rules can get you in trouble with fines or prison"

Part 6Remedies for infringement
Presumptions

130Unjustified proceedings

  1. Where a person brings proceedings alleging an infringement of copyright or a contravention of section 226A, a court may, on the application of any person against whom the proceedings are brought,—

  2. make a declaration that the bringing of proceedings was unjustified:
    1. make an order for the payment of damages for any loss suffered by the person against whom the proceedings are brought.

      1. A court shall not grant relief under this section if the person who brought the proceedings proves that the acts in respect of which proceedings were brought constituted, or would have constituted if they had been done, an infringement of the copyright concerned.

      2. Nothing in this section makes a barrister or solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand liable to any proceedings under this section in respect of any act done in his or her professional capacity on behalf of a client.

      Compare
      Notes
      • Section 130(1): amended, on , by section 65 of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).